With the increase in cost of laboratory tests, and with the proliferation of useful tests as the knowledge of pathology and physiology in general and of immunology and blood-banking in particular, increases, it becomes most desirable to develop test procedures which can be carried out quickly, precisely, in large numbers and, wherever possible, automatically. Typing of blood is particularly important from the above standpoints due to the fact that it is one of the tests most frequently carried out. It is done essentially on a routine basis whenever a patient enters a hospital for surgery due to the fact that transfusion of blood may become necessary. It is extremely important to determine whether a pregnant woman may be Rh negative and the father Rh positive. Problems also arise where an individual who is Rh negative receives a transfusion of Rh positive blood. A second transfusion of blood of this type to such an individual can develop a severe reaction.
Where it is suspected that a patient is suffering the effects of infection with a specific virus, a rapid, simple and reliable test for determing whether the patient has been infected with said specific virus would be of substantial value. The value of such a test would be increased if the test could be carried out automatically. It would be desirable in this respect to be able to test for the presence of an antibody to the specific virus in the blood of the individual.